| 摘要 |
When fabricating thermoelectric devices using bulk semiconductor materials and single crystal substrates, the performance of the thermoelectric device can be limited by the interdependence between electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity in the bulk semiconductor material. Additionally, the properties of bulk semiconductor materials can lead to expensive, bulky, and complex power generation systems. Thermoelectric devices can be fabricated using a metals- semiconductor composite and epitaxial nanowire percolation network architecture. Low cost, mechanically flexible, highly scalable, and high performance thermoelectric devices can be achieved due to the flexibility with the host semiconductor material, nanoparticle material, diameter and length of the nanowires, density and size of the embedded nanoparticles, angle of intersection of the nanowires, and choice of epitaxial growth conditions and fabrication processes in the metals- semiconductor composite and epitaxial nanowire percolation network architecture. |
